“Added to this is irresponsible and unpredictable governance, resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion, with the risk of leading the country in chaos.”
“We – the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) on behalf of the people of Gabon and as guarantors of the institutions’ protection – have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime,” it said.
TV images later showed the head of the Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, being carried in triumph by hundreds of soldiers, to cries of “Oligui president.”
Bongo’s son and close adviser Noureddin Bongo Valentin, his chief of staff Ian Ghislain Ngoulou as well as his deputy, two other presidential advisers and the two top officials in the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) “have been arrested,” a military leader said.
They are accused of treason, embezzlement, corruption and falsifying the president’s signature, among other allegations, he said.
Bongo appeared in a video appeal that gave no indication of when or where it was recorded.
“I’m Ali Bongo Ondimba, president of Gabon. I’m sending a message to all friends that we have all over the world to tell them to make noise for… the people here who arrested me and my family,” he said.
“My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place and I’m at the residence and nothing is happening. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m calling you to make noise.”
Bongo was first elected in 2009 following the death of his father Omar, who had ruled the country for 41 years, reputedly amassing a fortune en route.
The announcement came just moments after the national election authority declared Bongo had won a third term in Saturday’s election with 64.27 per cent of the vote.
Gabon’s main opposition, led by university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, had angrily accused Bongo of “fraud” and demanded that he hand over power “without bloodshed.”
